1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in bacteria destroying apparatus, and more particularly, to bacteria destroying apparatus of the type which can generate radiation in a wave length effective to destroy bacteria in a telephone communication system.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, there has not been any effective method or means for destroying bacteria which normally accumulates in a conventional telephone handset. This problem is particularly pronounced in the case of coin operated telephones which are normally located in commercial establishments and other areas for use by the public in general. Thus, a user may often transmit to the mouthpiece of the telephone instrument, such as the mouthpiece on a telephone handset, various bacteria or other germs from the user. This bacteria, for example, collects on the mouthpiece and if a subsequent user uses the same telephone instrument, prior to the time that the bacteria would normally die when exposed to the external atmosphere, such subsequent user might be subjected to contact by the same bacteria or virus.
There have not been any effective devices for destroying the bacteria which collects on or in a telephone instrument without creating any harmful effects to the users of such telephone instruments. There have been several proposals to subject the telephone instrument to a source of radiation external to the instrument itself for destroying any bacteria which might collect on the instrument and particularly the mouthpiece of a telephone handset. However, these devices are temporary in nature and must be turned off and on. There have also been several proposals to employ lights generating certain selected radiation within a telephone handset itself. However, and here again, these proposals resulted in very bulky devices which necessitated redesign of the telephone handset and were also not very effective. In addition, such devices were quite costly to manufacture.
The present invention overcomes these and other problems in the provision of a radiation generating device in the form of a relatively small, flat and thin disc which is capable of being located in a telephone instrument and which is also designed to generate radiation within a wave length sufficient to destroy any bacteria or virus collecting on the telephone instrument and which is also sufficient to deenergize the device when the telephone is used so that the user of the device will not be subjected to any exposure of harmful radiation.